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Nightengale: Game in '11 'changed everything' for two teams

St. Louis Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak, sitting behind his office desk at Busch Stadium, knows the stylish clothes he wears soon will be ruined, perhaps tonight, by a sea of champagne and beer.

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ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak, sitting behind his office desk at Busch Stadium, knows the stylish clothes he wears soon will be ruined, perhaps tonight, by a sea of champagne and beer.

The Cardinals are one victory, or a Pittsburgh Pirates defeat, from clinching the National League Central Division title.

Philadelphia Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro will be in Atlanta, and his clothes will be saturated in nothing more than perspiration, watching his team end its most miserable season in 14 years.

The fate of these two proud franchises was dramatically altered the night of Oct. 7, 2011.

It was the night the Cardinals won Game 5 of the National League Division Series, 1-0 against the Phillies, with Chris Carpenter outpitching one of his best friends, fellow Cy Young winner Roy Halladay.

And it serves as perhaps the ultimate lesson that in baseball's playoffs, which begin next week, one game can forever define a career, change lives and even reshape the direction of a franchise.

"I think about that," Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins told USA TODAY Sports. "Just that one game. It had such a huge impact.

"Really, it changed everything."

The Phillies, which once boasted a rock-star rotation of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt, are more a tribute band, with bit players aiming to replicate the roles of since-departed superstars.

The Cardinals, who by all rights shouldn't have even been in the playoffs that year, are the premier power of the National League, reaching the postseason for the 10th time in 14 years, having won 94 games, their most in a season since 2005.

"When you look back, had we lost that game," Mozeliak said, "our history would have been different. That game created a springboard for us, created confidence for players in this organization.

"That youth injection we had going on in '11, is now creating pillars of our team today.

"Game 5 meant everything to us."

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ICONS AND INJURIES

It turned Cardinals third baseman David Freese into an overnight star in St. Louis. He won the NL Championship Series and World Series MVP awards, his Game 6 heroics forever a part of Cardinals' folklore.

"Who knows where we'd be?" Freese said. "Who knows where I'd be? It's just incredible to think how it all went down."

It helped set the stage for Albert Pujols, the Cardinals' greatest player since Stan Musial, to flee for the free agent riches of California, far from the barbs of St. Louis fans who now regard him as a pariah.

It turned Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard, who ruptured his Achilles on the last pitch of the game, into a broken-down slugger who is far from living up to the five-year, $125 million extension that runs through 2016. He's played in half of the last two seasons, crippling the Phillies' offense.

It eventually cost manager Charlie Manuel his job; he was fired this summer.

It made Cardinals manager Tony La Russa a St. Louis icon. He retired after winning the World Series, his Hall of Fame credentials secure.

It might have cost Carpenter his career. The third pitcher in history to throw a complete-game 1-0 victory in a deciding postseason game, pitched 2731/3 innings that season. His body never recovered. He has pitched 17 innings in two years since and likely will never pitch again.

But his four postseason victories altered the game's landscape; Carpenter took down the Phillies and beat the Texas Rangers in two games of the World Series. The lasting effect might have been on his own team.

"When you think back to that run in 2011," Mozeliak said, "everybody just remembers Game 6 of the World Series. But Game 5 in Philly set the tone for what became the whole postseason for us.

"You can argue that game became the foundation for our one-game playoff last year (against the Atlanta Braves), and Game 5 in Washington (vs. the Nationals). That game triggered a lot of success."

Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher David Price (middle) is mobbed by his teammates after pitching a complete game to defeat the Texas Rangers 5-2 at Rangers Ballpark at Arlington.
Tim Heitman, USA TODAY Sports

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While the Cardinals have become a juggernaut, the Phillies have become a decaying franchise, and might be years away from contending.

"It would have been completely different if we had won," Phillies starter Cole Hamels said. "They would have kept the same core guys here. We would have had a couple of free agents come our way. They wouldn't have worried about the luxury tax. They would have just kept driving it, paying whatever it took.

"It would have been a Yankee thing. Now, look at us."

Instead of the next chapter in a five-year playoff run that included two pennants and a World Series championship, the game was a coda for the Phillies' dominance.

"We thought we would run the table if we got past those guys," Hamels said. "When we lost, we were just numb."

They woke up the next morning and discovered they were old.

Two years after producing nine consecutive winning seasons and a major-league leading 102 victories in 2011, the Phillies are in danger of finishing with the third-worst record in the National League.

While dozens of decisions have shaped the franchise in the years since, good luck convincing the Phillies their misfortune stems from something other than one 1-0 game.

"We both knew that game would mean everything," Rollins said. "There was no doubt that we were the best two teams. We won more games in baseball than anybody that year, and they happened to catch fire and just kept winning."

The Phillies were the ones responsible for even getting the Cardinals into the playoffs. On Aug. 24, the Cardinals were 10 1/2 games behind wild-card-leading Atlanta.

But the Braves collapsed as the Cardinals regrouped, and when Philadelphia swept Atlanta in the final regular-season series, St. Louis sneaked into the playoffs.

"They were the only team that could stand in our way of the World Series," Rollins said, "that's for sure."

In winning the World Series, the Cardinals were afforded the luxury of not bringing back the biggest free agent prize of all: Pujols. Oh, they wanted Pujols back. But with a shiny World Series trophy sitting in their lobby, they no longer felt compelled to have him. And if Pujols had been retained, Allen Craig might have gone or, at least, been marginalized, instead of developing into one of the game's premier first baseman.

Pujols signed a 10-year, $240 million contract with the Angels; Craig, an All-Star this season, is under contract through at least 2017, for $31 million in guaranteed money.

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CARPENTER: WORTH IT ALL

There was one professional casualty: Carpenter.

He'd pitched 472 innings in 2010-11, then tacked on another 36 during his 4-0 playoff run.

They were stressful innings.

"In hindsight," Mozeliak says, "it took it toll on Carp. They say, 'You ride the horse.' We rode it.'

"That Game 5 was the best game I ever saw. We're not hoisting a World Series flag without him."

Carpenter, 38, isn't certain that postseason prematurely ended his career, but if it did, there are no regrets. The World Series ring is the ultimate prize for his sacrifice.

"I left it all out there," Carpenter said, "and I wouldn't change a thing. My body really hasn't responded since, but that's OK. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

"I think about that game all of the time."

Maybe no one watches the replay more often than Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Skip Schumaker. He was the one who listened to hitting coach Mark McGwire's pre-game advice that night, and became a hero.

Halladay was 40-16 in two seasons with the Phillies. He was the Cy Young winner in 2010, the runner-up in '11, had no-hit the Cincinnati Reds in the 2010 playoffs and beat the Cardinals in Game 1.

"I just told them that when you have a great pitcher like Halladay on the mound," McGwire said, "nothing is more irritating than a guy who keeps fouling off great pitches. It pisses him off. And the more he gets pissed off, the harder he throws. Sooner or later, he'll leave one up."

Schumaker fouled off five two-strike balls and then teed off with a double into the right-field corner, scoring Rafael Furcal. It was Halladay's last mistake.

It cost the Phillies the game.

"It was the biggest hit of my career," Schumaker said. "I've watched that game so many times. I never get tired of watching it."

Carpenter was almost untouchable, allowing three hits in nine innings and just one runner as far as third base. He finished the game retiring Howard on a weak grounder to second, unleashing three hours' of tension with a primal scream as his teammates mobbed him.